Letters to the Editor

Thanks on Sicko

Your piece today on Michael Moore ("Moore's grand slam," Metro Times, June 20) was terrific, really well done.

In the past three years I've become a rabid health care reform advocate in California and Moore's film is just what our single-payer campaign ordered. He also went out of his way to premiere the film in California in our state capital, with the author of the bill my organization sponsored, Sen. Sheila Kuehl. The bill, SB 840, will do away with private insurance and simplify our lives forever.

As a former Michigan son and frequent visitor, I know much of the state has mixed notions of Mr. Moore and you handled that beautifully. He's also a certifiable genius. Just last month I revisited his Fahrenheit 911 from 2004 and, man, it was incredibly accurate and foretelling. —George Savage, Los Angeles, Calif. (formerly of Caro and Livonia, Mich.)

It is a disgrace that the "so-called" richest nation in the world has no universal health care plan. Americans like to boast that "We're No. 1" in everything, but we really aren't. Our infant mortality rate is the pits, our life expectancy isn't the best and we keep letting the corporations run everything into the ground. We are turning into a country of a few very well-off families, while the rest of us are turning into peasants! Health care is just one aspect of America's lack of interest in its own people. —Susan Kulikowski, Trenton

I am writing regarding the fact that Amnesty International is not being allowed to hold meetings at the Sacred Heart Seminary ("Moore's grand slam," Metro Times, June 20). So the Catholic Church has once again pointed its hypocritical finger at Amnesty International because of their position on abortion when a woman or young girl is raped and becomes pregnant. I am sure the Metro Times will receive its standard pat response from Ned McGrath, spokesperson from the Archdiocese of Detroit, stating that, "the Catholic Church values all life." What Mr. McGrath will not say is that the Church is selectively "pro-life." What he will not say is that the Church is only "pro-American fetus." The Church has been eerily silent on the issue of war. American bombs are dropped on pregnant women on a daily basis on the other side of the world. Do those fetuses not matter? The Church is also eerily silent on the issue of forced abortions in China, where women are dragged to hospitals against their will and forced to have abortions. The Church will also not speak of withholding Holy Communion from American politicians who support sweatshops on U.S. territories (Northern Mariana Islands), where abortions are also forced upon its workers. Where is the Church's outcry? Once again, silent. And they point their finger at Amnesty International? My Lord! —Lourdes Fonseca-Nearon, Dearborn

Contrary to Nate Cavalieri's assertion that "We've all been in a little room with the White Stripes," I haven't. However, this may be a blessing in disguise.

Mr. Cavalieri's review of the new White Stripes release, Icky Thump, seemingly exists as an excuse to tear down the idols he once built up. Why, for instance, should Jack White's choice of residence or, especially, his wife, matter? Why mention them at all? As the label of my old Gordy 45s state, "It's what's in the grooves that count."

There are songs on each and every White Stripes record to date that I don't like, but I've never taken it personally. Maybe it's because I've never been in a little room with them — and never projected my hang-ups onto them. —Don Handy, Mount Clemens

Errata: Last week's review of the new White Stripes record opened with a quote from a song that was attributed to the wrong album. It should have been attributed to White Blood Cells. In Charles Maldonado's article "Glass Cages and Big Ideas" (Metro Times, June 20), Detroit Unleaded, showing during the Allied Media Conference, was incorrectly identified as a documentary; it is a short film. Also, it was shot not in 12 weeks but in 12 days.

Send letters (250 words or less, please) to [email protected]. Please include your telephone number for verification. We reserve the right to edit for length, clarity and libel.